For more than a century, New Orleanians have cooled off in the summer with gelato or Italian ice at Angelo Brocato Ice Cream Shop. The shop has been owned and operated by three generations of Brocatos going back to 1905. But the Brocato family now mourns the loss of the grandson of the shop's namesake, Angelo Brocato III.
As reported by our partners at NOLA.com, Brocato died Wednesday after a long illness.
Brocato's grandfather opened the shop after immigrating to the U.S. from Sicily. He worked sugarcane fields in southeast Louisiana to earn the money to buy the shop, originally in the French Quarter. In the 1970s, it moved to it's current location in the 200 block of North Carrollton Avenue.
Angelo Brocato III and his brother Arthur have been running the business since then. The Brocato brand can also be found in area grocery stores and in a booth every spring at Jazz Fest.
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
